CALLOUS thieves have ransacked a revamped children’s ward for cancer-stricken youngsters causing thousands of pounds’ worth of damage days before it was due to reopen.

Nurses were horrified to discover Ward 11 and a new Teenage Cancer Trust conservatory at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, in Northfield, had been burgled on Sunday.

Crooks even smashed open a filing cabinet to take £26 raised in a sponsored silence by student nurses.

Leaving a trail of damage, burglars ripped out newly-fitted DVD players from bedsides, damaged a 40 inch plasma screen television and snatched a host of Wii, X Box and PS3 computer games and a digital camera. The children’s ward was closed while undergoing a £250,000 renovation thanks to the Cancer Trust charity and due to open this weekend to provide some reprieve for young people battling gruelling treatment at one of the worst point of their lives.

Ward sister Rachel Seymour said the thousands of pounds of damage and thefts had been carried out on goods provided solely from donations of hard-working generous people.

“It is bitterly sad because we were supposed to open a ward with great facilities and now the children won’t have anything,” said Rachel.

“A receptionist discovered the break-in on Monday morning when she realised that the door had been kicked in and everything with a lock on it had been broken open,” she added.

“They didn’t manage to steal a lot of what they tore out, like the TV and DVD players, but they are broken now.

“Some families had walked a 100 miles to raise money for this ward. Everyone was looking forward to reopening the ward but the burglary has left us all disheartened.

“It is unbelievable that someone could steal from a ward treating children that are so ill.”

West Midlands Police said it was investigating the burglary and officers have been passed CCTV images from the hospital to help with the inquiry.